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Two of Victoria's most stunning natural wonders – The Grampians and the Great Ocean Road – will feature as the backdrops to this year's RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride. “This year’s RACV Great Victorian Bike Ride will explore the hills of Halls Gap, the coastal cliffs of the Great Ocean Road and everything in between,” said Rebecca Lane, Bicycle Network General Manager, Events.

The Tweed Valley and the New England Tablelands in Northern NSW are what cycle touring dreams are made of. Quiet roads, stunning scenery, and lovely little towns make riding through here a delight to the senses. This Autumn, a four day supported bike tour will wind its way through these two gorgeous regions raising funds for Australian Rotary Health and its research into Mental Health for Australians living in rural areas.

Thousands of cyclists across three capital cities will take to the streets in January, lights blazing, to cycle through the night in a social ride that also raises money to break the cycle of disadvantage. Following a successful debut in Melbourne last year, Ride the Night is back and bigger having expanded to Brisbane and Hobart while also having doubled the number of rider places available in Melbourne due to popular demand.

Ballarat, sitting in the western foothills of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, is synonymous with gold. The ornate streets of this famous gold-rush town ring with history, of a time of great wealth and rebellion, of the Eureka Stockade. But while the pages of our history books hone in on this important era of Australia's past, there is much more to Ballarat's history than gold alone, and it's a history bicycle lovers will find very appealing.

Here's one for your diary... whether you're planning your very first bicycle tour and have a million unanswered questions keeping you up at night, or you've been around the traps for a while and just want to have a casual chat to over a drink or two to someone about a nice route to cycle in another country: here's your chance!

As part of the three-week Sydney Rides Festival, Marie Laubie of Travel Cycle Drinkle has organised a bicycle touring get together.

It's one of Australia's favourite gourmet food and wine regions – the Clare and Gilbert Valleys – sitting alongside the sun, sand and seafood of South Australia's Copper Coast. And this year, the two are set to feature in the first ever Wine, Wheels & Whiting cycling weekend.

Cycling Victoria's Great Ocean Road is on the bucket list for many, and if you're going to take on the famous route, it's a good opportunity to raise some funds to help those in need. “It is breathtaking. Every twist and turn brings another stunning view and moment you cannot help but wish to snap with your camera,” says Craig Shipton, organiser of the 25000spins Great Ocean Road charity ride. “It’s a fantastic ride with heaps of challenges which keep encouraging you to continue the adventure.”

These days you're more likely to find a good coffee and a bakery than gold in the ornate towns of the Australia's goldrush era, which is perfect if you're a hungry cyclist.
Steeped in history, the well preserved gold towns of Ballarat, Bendigo, Inglewood, Heathcote and Castlemaine will this year play host to 3,500 cyclists on the annual Great Victorian Bike Ride – the largest annual bike tour in the Southern Hemisphere.

Adventure cyclist Kate Leeming will be touring Australia presenting a series of talks about her world first ride across Africa and her upcoming world record attempt in Antarctica.

Leeming, who has released a book and documentary, Njinga, about her 22,040km unsupported solo ride from Senegal to Somalia, aims to become the first person to cycle from one end of Antarctica to the other via the South Pole later this year using a custom-made fat bike.

Cycle Traveller is the online bicycle touring blog for routes, maps, resources and news about cycling around Australia. Be inspired, connect with other cyclists and plan your adventure! Founded in 2012, the Cycle Traveller community is continually growing. If you have a story to tell, information to share or a question to ask, please contact us. You can share information via our forum, or send us an email. Happy riding!